Activision’s E3 announcement about Donkey Kong and Bowser joining the Skylanders Superchargers roster was a surprise for many, given how tight-lipped and guarded Nintendo is about how their characters are used. What is truly interesting however is that Donkey Kong and Bowser weren’t the first choices developer Vicarious Visions chose.

According to one report, the first idea that came from the team at Vicarious Visions was Warrior Princess Peach. However, the idea was quickly shot down by Nintendo and the team informed that the main cast of Super Mario Bros. was off-limits when doing cross-overs. With Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, and Toad unlikely to be approved, the team turned to Nintendo’s bevy of other characters.

The team then considered Kirby as a character to include, but Nintendo is not the sole owner of the Kirby franchise. HAL Laboratory, the developer of the Kirby franchise, would have to sign off on the inclusion. According to the report, Kirby’s abilities would have remained pretty much the same, with the ability to suck up enemies and bounce all over.

Fox McCloud was also on the table for consideration for joining Skylanders Superchargers, especially since the game focuses on vehicles now. However, Nintendo didn’t want to take the focus away from its own Star Fox Zero which was being revealed, so he was ruled out as well. Thus, the team at Vicarious Visions settled on Bowser and Donkey Kong as their included Nintendo characters.